This invention relates generally to computer user interface architectures. More particularly, the invention provides a user interface architecture in which both user content and user interface are composed of document pages with links.
Many personal computer users find the desktop metaphor of prior art computer user interfaces (xe2x80x9cUIsxe2x80x9d) confusing and difficult to learn. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that simplifies the user""s interaction with the computer by using fewer kinds of user interface controls in a more general way.
Further, the ways in which users interact with information about prior UIs is different than the way the user interacts with content, such as documents, presentations, and the like. For example, in prior art UIs, content and UI information are displayed entirely differently. Content is typically displayed in a particular region or frame of the display. User interface information is never displayed there. Instead, user interface information is displayed in dialog boxes, drop down menus, and tool bars. User content never shows up in dialog boxes, drop down menus, and tool bars. Similarly, users find user content documents and UI help information differently. Accordingly, there is a need for a UI architecture in which the concepts and actions the user must learn are the same for interacting with both content and the UI. Such a unification makes computer software easier and more efficient to use.
Prior art UIs for desktop computers typically require a keyboard and mouse in order for a user to interact with them, and most pen-enabled palmtop computers have cumbersome means of interaction. Therefore, there is a need for more xe2x80x9cnaturalxe2x80x9d styles of interacting with a computer by using a minimum number common gestures such as touch, hold, erase, draw or write.
Prior art UI desktop metaphors applied to small form factor devices are typically cluttered and difficult to use. In addition, applications that provide rich functionality are sometimes constrained by the limited ability of a user to navigate menus and dialogs of prior art UIs. For instance, for such applications, the menus and tool bars may get too big, and the help system may get too cumbersome to navigate or search. Accordingly, in addition to the need for a simpler more unified experience for the user of an application, there is also a need to facilitate the uncluttered presentation of user interfaces for applications providing very rich functionality.
Usability data for prior art UIs show that users of multi-windowed systems don""t always know which actions will produce results in which window. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the complexity and confusion sometimes caused by multi-windowed user interfaces.
Prior art UIs typically offer limited capabilities for customizing the UI. Accordingly, there is a need for a UI architecture that provides greater flexibility to users, content developers, and third-party software developers by providing broader capabilities for easily customizing the UI. For example, different groups of users may be of different levels of computer skill and have need of different sets of features, and the UI can be customized to better suit their needs.
Users of prior art UIs sometimes become extremely frustrated when their work is lost because their work was not properly saved. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a save-less model, so that users do not need to explicitly save their work.
Users of prior art UIs typically do not have a convenient and seamless way to record notes verbally and to associate notes with particular parts of a document. Accordingly, there is a need to provide rich support for audio note taking with the ability to correlate and synchronize audio and textual material and to review and retrieve audio notes.
Prior art device-to-device and device-to-PC synchronization schemes typically are not seamless and require a great deal of configuration and attention from the user. Accordingly, there is a need to provide automatic and transparent synchronization between a user""s computers, such as a handheld computer and a desktop computer.
In prior art UIs, methods for getting help are currently separate from the content and often require completely different interactions than interacting with content. Accordingly, there is a need to make the process of getting help about a function the same as the process for carrying out the function.
Prior art UIs typically have a xe2x80x9csingle-user modelxe2x80x9d at the heart of their interface metaphors, which makes sharing content and annotations with other users difficult and non-intuitive. Accordingly, there is a need to make sharing and collaborating on documents easier and more automatic.
According to various preferred embodiments, the invention includes a user interface architecture in which user content and user interface are composed of documents with links. A link can relate a spot or region in a document with a spot or region in another document, so that touching the link causes the display to navigate to that other document. A link can also relate a spot or region in a document and an active runable object such that when a user activates that link or touches that spot in the document, the associated object is run. Parameters for the execution of the object may be supplied by properties associated with the link. Links, therefore, can act as commands. Links may be to any kind of command code.
A link may manifest in various ways based on the link""s properties. Links can look like not only clickable spots, but also fill-in fields and other kinds of well-known and later-developed user interface elements. Alternatively, links can manifest in the containing document a frame displaying the contents of part, or all, of the linked-to document. When links are displayed, in addition to basing the display format of the link on the link""s display properties, the link display format may depend upon the characteristics of the linked-to document.
The path a user takes to reach a document typically affects the behavior and presentation of the document. State-like information for displaying a linked-to document page is stored separately from the linked-from and linked-to documents as part of the link""s properties. Users access, interact with, and navigate among both user content documents and user interface documents in a unified way, namely, by activating links. Further, both user content document pages and user interface document pages are displayed in a single viewing frame. This unified approach simplifies the user""s interaction with both user content and user interface documents by reducing the number of concepts a user must learn in order to access, interact with, and modify both user content documents and the user interface.
A non-linear navigation history is maintained such that a user can navigate along a first path, back up using a previous link an appropriate number of times, navigate along a second path, back up along the second path using the previous link an appropriate number of times, and re-navigate along the first path again using a next link. Every document page to which a user navigates is saved in the user""s navigation history. Users can query their navigation histories and view their navigation history in various ways, such as: by time, by appearance, by site, document, section, page, and the like. User can also view their navigation history as nodes with side tracking branches, as a linear list, or as a combination of most recently viewed pages and last few task categories. According to a preferred embodiment, navigation from user content pages through user interface pages that results in a command being executed is automatically removed from the user""s view of the navigational history in order to keep the navigational history view uncluttered.
A flexible selection model is supported allowing users to select the object of a command either before or after the command itself is selected. This flexible selection model allows UIs built according to the principles of this invention to scale to small display areas. UIs built according to the principles of this invention also scale well to applications having voluminous and/or complicated user interfaces by facilitating an organized and uncluttered view of the user interface command hierarchy and/or user interface help information for such applications.
Users get at commands by navigating to a page where the desired command is found. In a preferred embodiment, the documents-with-links UI according to the principles of this invention is organized to make frequently used commands a single navigation step away, or through customizations, no steps away. A self-explanatory document, the Guide Book is provided. The Guide Book is a readable manual that users can go through in a logical order, a page at a time, like any conventional user manual. Each command mention, however, is an active command instance that can be invoked in place.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent through the following description, the figures, and the appended claims.